The present invention relates to an automatic machine for processing cigarettes.
Currently used automatic cigarette processing machines are extremely complex both mechanically and electronically. In recent years, conventional drives with transmissions powered by a main motor have been replaced with a number of independent drives, each synchronized with the others. Also, to improve product quality, increasingly sophisticated controls have been introduced, both of the product itself (e.g. optical control using television cameras) and the process (e.g. heat-seal temperature control using temperature sensors, wrapping material supply control, etc.).
The increasing use of electronics in the control of automatic machines now means that, alongside mechanical setup and maintenance (i.e. of the mechanical components of the machine)xe2x80x94which, though simpler than before, are still necessaryxe2x80x94electrical setup and maintenance (i.e. of the electrical and electronic components of the machine) are also required.
The electrical setup of known automatic cigarette processing machines, however, is an extremely complex, time-consuming job, on account of individual operating membersxe2x80x94e.g. electric motors, sensors, solenoid valves xe2x80x94still having to be tested by operating the whole or at least a whole section of the automatic machine, and so being compared with simultaneous operation of a large number of other operating members.
To overcome the above drawback, it has been proposed to bypass the automatic machine control program by physically forcing certain states of the automatic machine controller to determine the response of a given operating member. Such a procedure, however, is not actually employed, by being not only difficult to perform but also extremely dangerous by failing to conform with the minimum standards governing both machine and operator safety.
It is an object of the invention to provide an automatic machine for processing cigarettes designed to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks, and which at the same time is cheap and easy to implement.
According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic machine for processing cigarettes as recited by claim 1.